Wilson v.Estate of Burge

667 F.Supp.3d 785

Jackie WILSON, Plaintiff, v. Administrator of the ESTATE OF Former Chicago Police Department Commander Jon BURGE; Thomas McKenna; Brian O'Hara, Special Representative of Deceased Defendant Patrick O'Hara; Geri Lynn Yanow, Special Representative of Deceased Defendant John Yucaitis; Lawrence H. Hyman; Nicholas N. Trutenko; Michael Hartnett; Timothy Andrew Horvat; Susan Kunkle, Special Representative of the Estate of William J. Kunkle; William David Coleman; Anthony Schumann, Special Representative of Deceased Defendant Leroy Martin Sr.; Terry Hillard; Robert Shines as Special Representative for the Estate of Gayle Shines; Thomas Needham; City of Chicago; Cook County, Defendants.

No. 21-cv-03487

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division

Signed March 31, 2023

Elliot Robert Slosar, Jonathan I. Loevy, Margaret E. Campbell, Scott R. Rauscher, Loevy & Loevy, Chicago, IL, G. Flint Taylor, Ben H. Elson, Nora P. Snyder, People's Law Offices, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.

Eileen Ellen Rosen, Andrew Joseph Grill, Jessica Zehner, Stacy Ann Benjamin, Rock Fusco & Connelly LLC, Chicago, IL, for Defendants Administrator of the Estate of Former Chicago Police Department Commander Jon Burge, Brian O'Hara, Special Representative of Deceased Defendant Patrick O'Hara, Geri Lynn Yanow, Special Representative of Deceased Defendant John Yucaitis.

Terrence Michael Burns, Daniel Jerome Burns, Daniel Matthew Noland, Dhaviella Nichelle Harris, Katherine Carole Morrison, Paul A. Michalik, Reiter Burns LLP, Chicago, IL, for Defendants Richard M. Daley, Anthony Schumann, Special Representative of Deceased Defendant LeRoy Martin Sr., Fomer Superintendent Terry Hillard, Robert Shines, Thomas Needham, City of Chicago.

Eileen Ellen Rosen, Andrew Joseph Grill, Jessica Zehner, Stacy Ann Benjamin, Rock Fusco & Connelly LLC, Chicago, IL, Paul A. Michalik, Reiter Burns LLP, Chicago, IL, for Defendant Thomas McKenna.

Edward R. Theobald, Law Offices of Edward R. Theobald, Lisle, IL, for Defendant Lawrence H. Hyman.

John Coughlin Coyne, Law Offices of John C. Coyne, Chicago, IL, for Defendant Nicholas N. Trutenko.

Terry A. Ekl, Tracy L. Stanker, Ekl, Williams & Provenzale LLC, Lisle, IL, for Defendants Michael Hartnett, Timothy Andrew Horvat.

Thomas G. DiCianni, Matthew Alan Hurd, Ancel, Glink, Diamond, Bush, DiCianni

& Krafthefer, P.C., Chicago, IL, for Defendant Susan Kunkle.

Kenneth Steven Ulrich, Margaret Catherine O'Connor, William Kyle Walther, Goldberg Kohn Ltd., Chicago, IL, for Defendant Cook County.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Franklin U. Valderrama, United States District Judge

Table of Contents

Background...809

I. Defendants Burge, McKenna, O'Hara, and Yucaitis...809

II. Defendants Hyman and Hartnett...810

III. Defendants Kunkle, Trutenko, Horvat, and Coleman...810

IV. Defendants Daley, Martin, Shines, Hillard, and Needham...812

V. Defendant City of Chicago...814

Legal Standard...815

Analysis...815

I. Statute of Limitations...815

A. Procedural History Relevant to Accrual...816

B. Timeliness of Section 1983 Claims...817

1. All Section 1983 Counts relating to Coerced Confession...817

2. Defendants' Alternative Argument for Dismissal of All Section 1983 Claims Associated with Wilson's 1983 and 1989 Convictions...823

3. Accrual of Claim for Deprivation of Liberty Without Probable Cause...825

C. Timeliness of State Law Claims...826

1. Malicious Prosecution...827

2. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress...827

3. Civil Conspiracy...829

II. Immunity...829

A. Claims Against Hyman...831

1. Absolute Prosecutorial Immunity...832

2. Qualified Immunity...833

3. State Law Claims...835

B. Claims Against Hartnett...836

C. Claims Against Trutenko...837

D. Claims Against Kunkle...844

1. Absolute Prosecutorial Immunity...845

2. Qualified Immunity...849

3. State Law Claims...850

E. Claims Against Horvat...850

F. Claims Against Daley...851

1. Eleventh Amendment Immunity...852

2. Absolute Prosecutorial Immunity...852

III. Sufficiency of Wilson's Claims...854

A. Individual Constitutional Claims (Counts I, II, III)...854

1. Claims Against Hartnett...854

a. Color of Law...854

b. Sufficiency of Counts I, II, and III...855

2. Claims Against Hyman...858

3. Claims Against Kunkle...859

4. Claims Against Horvat...861

5. Claims Against Shines, Hillard, Needham, and Martin...862

a. Suppression of Evidence (All City Defendants)...862

b. Failure to Supervise or Intervene (Martin)...866

c. Count III Under the Fourteenth Amendment (All City Defendants)...867

6. Claims Against Daley...868

a. Sufficiency of Count I...869

b. Conspiracy...870

B. Individual State-Law Claims (Counts VI and VII)...871

1. State-Law Malicious Prosecution Claim...871

a. Commencing or Continuing Prosecution...871

b. Probable Cause...872

2. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress...873

C. Conspiracy...874

1. Federal and State Conspiracy Claims...874

2. Intra-Corporate Conspiracy Doctrine...876

D. Monell Claim (Count V), Respondeat Superior (Count IX), and Indemnification (Count X)...876

IV. Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission Act...877

A. The Act...878

B. Standing...880

1. Standing Doctrine Application to Defenses...881

2. Hyman's Standing...885

C. Constitutionality of the Act...887

Conclusion...888

On February 9, 1982, Chicago Police Officers William Fahey (Officer Fahey) and Richard O' Brien (Officer O'Brien) were shot and killed during a traffic stop. The murders led to the largest manhunt in the history of the City of Chicago. Five days later, Plaintiff Jackie Wilson (Wilson) and his brother Andrew Wilson (Andrew) were arrested by the Chicago Police Department (CPD) for the murders, at which time they were allegedly tortured by Chicago Police Officers into confessing to the murders. Wilson and Andrew were tried for the murders and found guilty. Wilson was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Illinois Appellate Court reversed Wilson's conviction and granted him a new trial. Wilson was re-tried and convicted for the murder of Officer O'Brien; but acquitted of the murder of Officer Fahey. Wilson's conviction was affirmed by the Illinois Appellate Court.

Wilson subsequently filed a complaint with the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission (the Commission), alleging that his statements were involuntary, as they were the product of torture committed by Chicago Police Officers. In 2018, the Circuit Court of Cook County ruled that Wilson's confession was tortured from him and granted him a new trial at which the confession would be barred. Two years later the Office of the Special Prosecutor began Wilson's third trial, relying on manufactured and false evidence. The Special Prosecutor, however, mid-trial moved to dismiss all charges against Wilson with prejudice.

Wilson then filed a sprawling ten-count Complaint against seventeen defendants, who include Chicago Police Officers, former Cook County State's Attorneys, former City of Chicago officials, and the City of Chicago (the City), asserting 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims and supplemental state law claims. R. 1, Compl.¹ Defendants move to dismiss the Complaint on several grounds, including the statute of limitations, absolute and qualified immunity, failure to state a claim, and the unconstitutionality of the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission Act, 775 ILCS 40/1, et seq.² R. 47, Trutenko Mot. Dismiss; R. 58, Horvat Mot. Dismiss; R. 59, Hartnett Mot. Dismiss; R. 69, Daley Mot. Dismiss; R. 72, Hyman Mot. Dismiss; R. 74, Kunkle Mot. Dismiss; R. 75, City Mot. Dismiss; R. 168, Martin Mot. Dismiss.³

Background⁴

I. Defendants Burge, McKenna, O'Hara, and Yucaitis

On February 9, 1982, during the course of a traffic stop, Chicago Police Officers Fahey and O'Brien were shot and killed. Compl. ¶¶ 57, 80-81. Wilson allegedly was the driver of the car and Andrew a passenger. Id. ¶¶ 82-83. The murders led the CPD to conduct the City's largest manhunt in history. Id. ¶ 57. Defendant Jon Burge (Burge), who was the commanding Violent Crimes Lieutenant at Area 2, was in charge of investigating the murders of Officers Fahey and O'Brien. Id. ¶ 58.

Three days after the murders, on February 12, 1982, Anthony Williams (Williams), an African American, was arrested and told that he "was the one that shot" the two officers. Compl. ¶¶ 63, 232. At CPD headquarters, Burge, among other CPD officers, tortured Williams. Id. ¶ 64. Burge tried unsuccessfully to get Williams to confess to killing Officers O'Brien and Fahey. Id. ¶ 65.

Also on February 12, 1982, an eyewitness to the murders tentatively identified Donald White (White), an African American, as the shooter of the two officers and White's brother-in-law, Dwight Anthony (Anthony), also an African American, as the driver of the car in which the shooter was riding. Id. ¶¶ 67-68, 232. White and Anthony were arrested the evening of February 12, and Defendants Thomas McKenna (McKenna), Patrick O'Hara (O'Hara) (both CPD detectives who worked at Area 2), Burge, and others questioned White. Id. ¶¶ 59, 68-69. Burge and the other CPD officers tortured White, who eventually gave a false statement. Id. ¶¶ 70-77.

Two days later, on February 14, 1982, Wilson, who is African American, was arrested and taken to Area 2, where he was interrogated by several Chicago Police Officers, including Detectives McKenna and O'Hara. Id. ¶¶ 38, 107-08, 113. After Wilson denied any knowledge about the murders of Officers Fahey and O'Brien, McKenna struck Wilson several times about the face and body, and then hit him in the head several times with a phone book. Id. ¶¶ 115-16, 118. O'Hara also hit Wilson in the face, chest, and side while Wilson denied involvement in the murders. Id. ¶ 116. After Burge instructed O'Hara to stop hitting Wilson in order to not "leave marks ... on his face," McKenna later started to choke Wilson and then put a revolver in Wilson's mouth. Id. ¶¶ 129-30. When Wilson still refused to make a statement, Burge told McKenna to take the gun out of Wilson's mouth,...